by Jen Calonita

4.5 Stars

Set after the ending of the original 1997 animated Disney film, Hercules, this book explores the twist of “What if Meg had to become a Greek god,” to stay with Hercules in Olympus. Zeus opposes the match of Megara and Hercules. With both of them heartbroken, Hera approaches Meg with a mission, and once Megara completes this mission, her reward is to become a God, which would solidify her future with Hercules on Olympus. The mission Hera assigns Megara is to save her ex-boyfriend’s wife from the Underworld. The ex-boyfriend who abandoned Megara when she sold her soul to Hades to save him. Can Meg put her feelings aside and use her wits to defeat the monsters and Gods that stand in her way, or will she run away from Godhood and Hercules due to her fear of commitment? 

This book is a part of Disney’s Twisted Tales Series. It is book 11 of the series, but you don’t have to read this series in order (as they are separate tales from separate films). As someone who loves retellings and liked the original movie, I was so excited to read this book, and it did not disappoint! All the characters adapted well to the text, and Megara was such an interesting character to follow. In the original movie, the audience mainly follows Hercules and his quest to become a God to join his parents (Zeus and Hera) in Olympus. It was nice to change the perspective onto Megara, who was already one of my favourite characters in the film. This book expanded on Meg’s character, and I thought the backstory was fitting. I also love what the author did to change the story between Meg and her ex-boyfriend. The only qualm I had with this novel was that I thought there was too much intervention from the Gods, which I thought took away from the original purpose of the mission given by Hera (Megara had to earn immortality by completing the mission). Overall, I would highly recommend that you check this novel out!

Emily W.

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